Accused of " rightism ", his father, the poet Ai Qing ( 1910-1996 ) with all the family ( Gao Ying and their children )

were exiled to a labor camp in Dahuang, Heilongjiang province, in northeast China.

1959 They are assigned to another camp in Shihezi, Xinjiang province.

1976 They were allowed to come back to Beijing.

1978 Passionate about art, he joined the Beijing Film Academy.

He studied with Chen Kaigeand Zhang Yimou

1979 He was one of the founders with Huang Rui, Ma Desheng, Wang Keping, Yan Li, Qu Leilei, Mao Lizi,
Bo Yun, Zhong Acheng, Yang Yiping, and Li Shuang, of the first vanguard
artistic movement in China :
The Xingxing Group, otherwise known as the Stars.

The United States

1981 He moved to the U.S.A. He studied at the Parsons School of Design with Sean Scully. He performed, created conceptual art by altering readymade objects and he sculpted.
He met the poet Allen Ginsberg and he was particularly interested in the work of Jasper Johns,
Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp.

1987 He participated in the founding of the Chinese United Overseas Artists Association with Li Shuang,
Qu Leilei, Zhang Hongtu and played an important role in the collective experimental art of the East Village.

China

1993 He retuned to China to see his sick father.
He wrote and published three books dedicated to experimental artists :
Black Cover Book 1994 - White Cover Book 1995 - Gray Cover Book 1997.

1997 He founded the gallery CAAW ( China Art archives & Warehouse )

1998 He created his studio in Caochangdi.

1999 His work was included in the 48th Venice Biennial

2000 He organized with Feng Boyi, in an industrial wasteland, Fuck off, a Chinese Contemporary art exhibition, along with the Shanghai Biennial

2002 He took part in the first Guangzhou Trienniale.

2003 He founded the architecture studi FAKE Design.

2004 First exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bern, led by Bernard Fibicher.

2006 His work was included in the Sydney Biennial and in the Busan Bienniale in Korea.

2008 He collaborated with Herzog & de Meuron, as the artistic consultant for design on the Beijing
National Stadium ( The Bird's Nest ), for the Summer Olympics.
He was invited by the Shanghai authorities to build an art studio on the outskirts of the city.

2009 After the Sichuan Earthquake, he investigated government corruption and published on the web,
articles documenting the names of students killed. His blog was shut down.
For his exhibition So Sorry at Haus der Kunst's he created the installation Remembering on Hausder Kunst's,
with the 9000 missing children's backpacks.

2010 In January, The authorities destroyed his studio, just completed, including foundations, only the pictures

taken by the artist were left.

2011 On April 4th, Ai Weiwei was arrested for tax evasion, causing many demonstrations of support worldwide.

The artist was released on bail, after 81 days in jail.

2012 On April 24 th, Ai Weiwei was elected unanimously new foreign member of the Royal Academy of Fine
Arts in Stockholm.

2013 Ai Weiwei will be one of the representatives of Germany at the Venice Biennale 2013, announced officials
of the German Pavilion.

D. Sicard

.

Multiple Sources: Like every synthesis, this biography only exists, thanks to the work of specialists that can be found in the books and catalogues indexed in the bibliography of this site.